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Sunday, June 21, 2009

To Be Or Not To Be.....Impartial?

I spent most of the weekend watching the U.S. Open and FIFA Soccer. I was so disgusted with the announcing at both events that I couldn't even tell you which was worse.

In the soccer match today, it was Egypt versus the US. As usual, it was the same announcers that always call the US games. During the match the Egyptian goalkeeper was kicked in the head, and was lying on the ground. One announcer accused the goalkeeper of faking injury because his "pride was hurt" after the US scored.

Even after it was obvious that he had been injured because he was bleeding and needed medical attention, this announcer still thought he was faking injury. The other announcer said that "he was on the ground too long to be faking". So what did the asshole announcer say? Did he express his concern for the injured goalkeeper? Hell no!! He said, "Oh, this delay will give us at least four additional minutes of playing time." He said nothing about hoping the player wasn't injured seriously after being kicked in the HEAD. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Had it been a US player that was injured he would have been calling for a red card, a penalty kick, a suspension, and demanding that everyone attend to the injured player. He would have never questioned the validity of the injury.

Later on in the match, he said absolutely nothing about the US taking out at least one Egyptian player by going at his legs. Instead he bitched about how the score should have been 2-0 because the US was robbed of a handball call/penalty kick, and was basically arguing for the ref to use INSTANT REPLAY. Nevermind the fact that Instant Replay isn't allowed in soccer.

This was the same announcer who prayed and begged for the refs not to count a goal in the US versus Italy match last week. When they decided that the goal wouldn't count, he actually said "Thank God".

The coverage and announcing at the US Open was just as disgusting and ridiculous.

They spent almost the entire day Saturday arguing back and forth with Al Roker about whether or not it was going to rain.

When Tiger Woods was playing like shit, they came up with every excuse in the book to explain that. First he got the "bad end of the draw". Then he "had bad weather on Thursday". Yeah, like he was the only player to play on Thursday in bad weather. Later on it was the course. It was the grass. Everything BUT Tiger Woods was to blame for Tiger Woods playing like shit!!

They wouldn't leave Phil Mickelson alone about his wife. It got to the point where he just wouldn't answer the questions that related to her anymore. Seriously!! The man's wife has cancer. Could they NOT leave him alone this weekend? Being in a tournament is hard enough. He didn't need to be bombarded with questions about his wife. They talked shit about his 3rd round today, almost insinuating that he just didn't want to win the US Open.

They were insulting to people who speak Spanish. Yesterday the question was, "What's the Spanish word for swish?" And in the most ignorant attempt to sound like they were speaking Spanish, one of the morons said "sweesh". Today they were showing Sergio Garcia playing and they showed a fan of his in the crowd. They again attempted to sound like they were speaking Spanish and in their asinine accent they said, "It's Elton Juan".

They talked shit all day long about the leader Ricky Barnes. They talked about how he hasn't done anything this year. They acted as if it was somehow insulting that he was the leader. Did you know that he has a girlfriend? They felt the need to tell people that, as if that has any bearing on golf.

Every single time they talked about David Duval, they felt the need to tell you that he is ranked 882nd in the world. But thanks for the reminder. Even the 882nd ranked player in the world has played better golf all weekend than the #1 ranked player in the world!! I'm sure there's an excuse in there somewhere to explain that too!!

They felt the need to tell the viewers that Sergio Garcia was playing like shit, and that they had an idea why. You see, he broke up with his girlfriend.

They had nothing to say about the obnoxious fans who hurled insults at players all weekend. One fan yelled "Ricky WHO" when Ricky Barnes had a big lead, and right after Woods got a birdie. Another fan yelled "Tiger can hit it better" just after Michael Sim hit a shot. These were just two of many!! But the announcers actually suggested that the fans were being very respectful!!

Isn't it the job of an announcer to be impartial? Apparently not because that clearly wasn't the case this weekend!!